We’re used to Google launching free new web services (and shutting them down) on a whim, so it was rather odd yesterday to see that Google had released a new free desktop app: Google Web Designer. Designed for Mac and PC, without even a version for Google’s own Chromebooks or perhaps Android tablets, Google Web Designer looks like an Adobe app and feels like a blast from the past.

Actually, though, it’s intended to blast away a technology who’s time is long past: Adobe Flash. It’s free, and it’s called a Web Designer, but it’s directly designed to help you make animated and responsive HTML5 ads for Google’s DoubleClick ad platform, presumably both to cure the web from the last vestiges of Flash and to help ads on Google’s platforms get clicks on mobile.

But hey: it’s also essentially a basic free version of Hype that you could use to make animations for your site, even if you’re not advertising with Google.

I’m seldom an impulsive shopper, especially when it comes to real products – though apps often get me to drop a dollar or five without nearly as much thought. At $35, though, the Chromecast seemed tempting enough to be worth a shot. I write about web apps for a living, but have never owned a Chrome device, so this seemed like the perfect chance to give the Chrome device ecosystem a shot.

There’s a tiny twist, though: I’m an American living in Thailand, and the Chromecast was solidly a product aimed at the American market. But surely it could be the perfect cheap dongle to turn any TV into a smart TV with your smartphone as the controller, no?

After doubling my initial investment in postage and waiting several weeks, I finally had a Chromecast in the back of my LG 42″ LED non-smart TV in my living room in Bangkok. It was both magical and frustrating. Here’s why.

Since the emergence of Dropbox, many cloud services have spawned all over the internet, and you probably use a few or all of them. From desktops and video games in the cloud to file-sharing, file-syncing cloud services, you are bound to have a membership to at least one – even if you didn’t intend to.

That isn’t a bad thing, though. As many of you may know, cloud services are extremely useful for school, work, or personal use, not to mention that the cloud will most likely be our future. Because of this, today we will cover the top cloud services and some applications that support them. (more…)

For what seems to be ages now, browser plug-ins and extensions have been improving the way we use browsers, and some go as far as to determine which browser we end up using as a default. These extensions not only improve the browser experience, but they also provide a way to interact with many other programs outside of your browser, rendering some applications less important.

Based on that fact, we have put together a great list of Safari Extensions that’ll make your web browsing experience more powerful, immersive, and incredibly social. Now, be aware that jamming too many plug-ins into your browser may make it run slower, or take more time to start up, so make sure to only install the ones you really want. With that said, have a look at some of the most useful Safari Extensions below.

With features like voicemail transcription, a master number for all your phones, free text messaging, and custom greetings based on who’s calling, Google Voice has become a wildly popular service for cell phone users. I’ve been using Google Voice for years, and for the most part I’ve found it to be a near-perfect communication tool.

The Google Voice iPhone app is decent, (the Android version is understandably better), but as long you’re sitting at the computer, it’s simpler to use the web interface to access voicemail and send text messages. GrowlVoice eliminates the need to open your browser to use Google Voice, and adds very convenient Growl notifications. How well does it perform?

It seemed like 2011 was the year of lawsuits both for and against Apple however 2012 is looking to be no different. In a fresh wave of legal attacks against Apple from its restless competitors, it’s now Motorola that is suing the Cupertino-based company on 6 counts of patent infringement in a Florida-based court.(more…)

That’s right! AppStorm has now landed on Google+ and will be delivering you app related goodness right to your Stream! We’re excited to let you know that now, in addition to Twitter and Facebook, you can get involved with Mac.AppStorm over at Google+! We’ll be using Google+ to let you know about the latest app news, reviews, how-tos, and roundups. Read on to find out more…

We’ve taken a look at various RSS reader solutions in the past, but quite a bit has changed over the past year or two. Most of the apps that we are showing you here are pretty new to the market (and some are not even yet out of beta!)

The RSS reader market has been getting bigger, and Google Reader has established its position as the de facto standard for syncing and managing feeds. But are you tired of using Google Reader’s web interface?

Today we’ll be featuring some of our favorite picks for the best RSS desktop apps that work with Google Reader.

Ever wanted to backup the masses of data that you’ve got stored up in the Google cloud? All those emails, documents, calendar events, and contacts? It’s a valid question, and something that most of us have no doubt considered from time to time.

But why would you need to backup your Google data? There are two main reasons; firstly, nothing is perfect and there is always the slim chance that your data stored with Google could be lost. Secondly, whilst very generous, Google’s free storage does run out at a point and when reached, you may wish to copy all old data to your computer to delete off the server.

BackupGoo is an easy to use application designed to backup all of your digital “stuff” stored with Google. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at the ins and outs of BackupGoo, as well as another app which can do a similar thing.